Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Autism's Many Faces

It will not come as a surprise to many parents of children with autism that researchers are examining different kinds and degrees of autism. On the internet there are many high functioning autistic persons who are obviously very intelligent, literate and self aware. Their perspectives and insights are interesting but of little help in raising, caring for and educating my son with limited verbal and communication skills who also lacks awareness of the life's common dangers such as automobile traffic. The differing types and degrees of autism are now starting to receive more attention from researchers who are focusing on physical characteristics which may distinguish the different types. It is hoped that such research might lead to more specific and effective treatments.

http://tinyurl.com/y4r6m8

Ped Med: The many faces of autism

By LIDIA WASOWICZUPI Senior Science Writer

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Although all show some degree of difficulty in socializing, communicating and imagining, like snowflakes, no two cases of autism are exactly alike, researchers say.

Their newfound recognition of the condition's diverse complexity and multi-faceted nature carries over to the research field, where the seekers of causes and cures are starting to look for ways to subdivide the disorder and crack its armor of secrecy piece by piece.

"The analogy that I find most helpful is to childhood leukemia," said Dr. Judith Miles, professor of pediatrics, Thompson Endowed Chair of Child Health and Pathology and director of the Medical Genetics Division at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"When I went to medical school, we thought it was one disorder, and only 5 percent of kids survived. Over the past 25 years, we realized it's a class of disorders. By separating the different types and learning how to treat each appropriately, we were able to make progress so that the survival rate is now 90 percent."

Miles is convinced all that looks like autism doesn't have the same cause and, therefore, will require a different therapeutic approach.

"If we can be more precise, we can do a lot of things," she said. "That would include the ability to prognosticate a child's future capabilities and design more specific and hence more efficacious treatments."

To that end, she has proposed the criteria for identifying autism, which currently are broadly based on social, communication and behavioral symptoms, be broken down into two further categories.

The recommendation is based on her finding that 20 percent of autistic children differ from the rest in both unusual physical features, such as an abnormal head size or malformed ear or hand, and autistic symptoms, which may include lower IQ, seizures or lack of speech after age 8. The researchers dubbed this subtype "complex autism."

They noted the much larger set of youngsters without the corporeal differences tended to be male and have siblings with a high risk for autism and other kin with the disorder. They called this subdivision "essential autism."

"It's very important for families to realize that autism is not a single disorder," Miles said, noting the two subgroups she has identified have different outcomes and recurrence rates.

"Separating essential autism from complex autism should be the first diagnostic step for children with autism spectrum disorders as it allows better prognostication and counseling."

"By determining if there are differences between the children who have distinct physical markers such as a small head and those who don't, we can start to identify differences in their genes," Miles said.

"Once you start splitting the disorder into subgroups, you start seeing specific trends and the water is not as muddy as it once was."

For example, Ohio State University investigators observed genetic changes found in certain cancers -- including of the breast, thyroid, uterus, endometrium and brain -- also appear in some types of autism.

They detected a mutated version of the so-called "PTEN" protein in three of 18 individuals with larger-than-normal heads and autism-spectrum disorders, including the severely impairing classic autism and Rett syndrome, a type that affects primarily girls.

Although it was based on a small study, the observation raises the possibility some people with autism and large heads may face an increased cancer risk, the authors said."

101 Noteworthy Sites on Asperger's & Autism Spectrum Disorders

Facing Autism on Facebook

Why ABA For Autism?

The effectiveness of ABA-based intervention in ASDs has been well documented through 5 decades of research by using single-subject methodology21,25,27,28 and in controlled studies of comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention programs in university and community settings.29–40 Children who receive early intensive behavioral treatment have been shown to make substantial, sustained gains in IQ, language, academic performance, and adaptive behavior as well as some measures of social behavior, and their outcomes have been significantly better than those of children in control groups.31–4American Academy of Pediatrics, Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

"We have to look also at environmental factors, and from my point of view, the interaction between the genetic factors and the environmental factors ... It looks like some shared environmental factors play a role in autism, and the study really points toward factors that are early in life that affect the development of the child"
Joachim Hallmayer, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Stanford University in California

Even Out Environmental and Genetic Autism Research Funding

Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones.

We need to even out the funding.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Researcher

My Autism Pledge For Conor

Today I pledge to continue;I Pledge to continue to fight for the availability of effective autism treatments;I Pledge to continue to fight for a real education for autistic children;I Pledge to continue to fight for decent residential care for autistic adults;I Pledge to continue to fight for a cure for autism;I Pledge to continue finding joy in my son but not in the autism disorder that restricts his life;Today, and every day, I Pledge to continue to hope for a better life for Conor and others with autism, through accommodation, care, respect, treatment, and some day, a cure;Today, and every day, I Pledge to continue to fight for the best possible life for Conor, my son with autistic disorder.

Dr. Jon Poling : Blinders Won’t Reduce Autism

"Fortunately, the ‘better diagnosis’ myth has been soundly debunked. ... only a smaller percentage of this staggering rise can be explained by means other than a true increase.

Because purely genetic diseases do not rise precipitously, the corollary to a true autism increase is clear — genes only load the gun and it is the environment that pulls the trigger. Autism is best redefined as an environmental disease with genetic susceptibilities."

We should be investing our research dollars into discovering environmental factors that we can change, not more poorly targeted genetic studies that offer no hope of early intervention. Pesticides, mercury, aluminum, several drugs, dietary factors, infectious agents and yes — vaccines — are all in the research agenda.